Frida Kahlo
Mexican, July 6, 1907 – July 13, 1954
Self-Portrait Wearing a Velvet Dress, 1926
Oil on canvas 79.7 x 59.9 cm
Private collection
Frida Kahlo’s honest, sometimes strange, self-portraits reflect a beauty beyond the physical– an impishness in the wide eyes, a small smirk teasing at the corners of her mouth. Her cheeks were always heavily rouged, and flowers often decorated her raven hair. Much of Kahlo’s life, though, was characterized by immense pain resulting from a lifelong battle with polio, and a bus accident in 1925 that left her crippled at the age of eighteen. This work stands out among the rest in Kahlo’s collection for its references to European art and a European standard of beauty. The woman portrayed here is only a version of Kahlo herself. Her hand is placed delicately on her arm; her white neck is elongated. Through the artist’s careful use of the contrast of light — Kahlo’s glowing skin — and dark — the black background– this painting not only communicates Kahlo’s outward beauty. It also points to unspoken turmoil, that of the artist, as dark as the night sky and as deep as rolling sea.
Aatia Davison
An extended look at Self-Portrait in a Velvet Dress and the artist